One of the key events for the nuclear power industry in Russia took place at the Novovoronezh NPP (city of Novovoronezh, Voronezh district, an affiliate of the Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company, a part of the Electric power division of the Rosatom State Corporation) – the newest 3+ generation VVER-1200 power block No. 7 has been commissioned 30 days ahead of schedule.

The applicable license was issued on October 31, 2019 by the Rosatom State Corporation. Previously, the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor) issued a resolution confirming that the facility complies with the project documentation, technical standards and regulatory documents, including the energy efficiency requirements.

The 7th power block of the Novovoronezh NPP was connected to the grid and started producing electric power on May 1st, 2019. It became the third one in a series of power blocks of such kind built in Russia. The first similar one – the 6th power block of the Novovoronezh NPP – was launched in 2016, the second one – at the Leningrad NPP-2 in 2017. By the time of its commissioning, the 7th power block has already delivered 2.5 billion kWh of electric power.

The first Deputy CEO of operation management at the Rosatom State Corporation, the President of JSC EC "ASE" Alexander LOKSHIN: ‘Hundreds of specialists in our industry made their contribution into this project. The Russian power network has been augmented with a new top-notch facility. We now have a reference project of a two-block NPP ready to be deployed at foreign sites. We have accumulated lots of experience in construction, production organization, purchasing and delivery, settlements, ongoing efficiency improvements complying with the modern market standards and crucial to address the challenges we have with regard to NPP construction’.

The CEO of the Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company, First Vice President of NPP construction at JSC EC "ASE" Andrey PETROV: ‘The number of Russian NPP power blocks has increased by one, from 35 to 36. The fact that the 7th power block of the Novovoronezh NPP has been commissioned serves as an evidence that the Rosatom State Corporation began serial construction of the new 3+ generation power blocks. This is the second block of such type on our site and the third one in Russia. Nowadays, multiple countries have opted for building 3+ generation power blocks following the Russian project design, including Finland, Hungary, Bangladesh, Belarus and so on’.

As of now, the Novovoronezh NPP is the major electric power producer in the Voronezh region. It accounts for around 90% of the region’s demand for electric power and up to 90% of the Novovoronezh city heat demand, supplies power to 20+ major enterprises and 2.3 residents of the Central Black Earth economic region. The launch of the 7th power block will increase the total Novovoronezh NPP capacity by 1.5 times and spur the economic growth of the Voronezh region, magnify the gross regional product and contribute over 1 billion rubles into the regional budget as property tax in 2020.